Scientia Iranica

Scientia Iranica

A Technical Feasibility Analysis to Apply Pseudomonas aeroginosa MR01 Biosurfactant in Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery of Low-Permeability Carbonate Reservoirs of Iran

Authors
M. R. Adelzadeh 1
R. Roostaazad 1
M. R. Kamali 2
T. Bagheri Lotfabad 2
1 Department of Chemical Engineering,Sharif University of Technology
2 Research Center,Sharif University of Technology
Abstract
The e ect of an ecient biosurfactant produced from Pseudomonas aeroginosa MR01, a
bacterial strain isolated from oil excavation areas in southern Iran, on the recovery of residual oil trapped
within carbonate rocks, was investigated. In a core holder set-up, bearing a number of limestone- and
dolomite-containing core samples, biosurfactant
ooding resulted in oil recoveries as large as 20% to 28%
Residual Oil (RO). Biosurfactant injection in less permeable rocks in a range of 0.5 to 32 md was more
successful, in terms of oil production. In the case of the least oil recovery via biosurfactant
ooding,
incubation of the core with a biosurfactant solution at reservoir conditions, increased the recovery from
13% residual oil at zero resting time to 15% after a resting time of one week and to about 30% after a
resting time of about two weeks. Based on interfacial tension measurements, salinity and, to a larger
extent, biosurfactant reduced interfacial tension. When salinity increased from 170000 to 200000 ppm,
the fraction of residual oil production increased to about 20%.
Keywords
Oil recovery
Biosurfactant
Pseudomonas aeroginosa
Interfacial tension
Biosurfactant ooding
Water ooding
Scientia Iranica
Volume 17, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
Transactions on Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (C)
June 2010

  • Receive Date 18 July 2010